Jury fails to reach verdict in Erie man's gun trial

An Erie County jury failed to reach a verdict this morning in the trial of an Erie man accused of illegally possessing a gun that was found during a police investigation into an August shooting.

The jury of seven men and five women deliberated for six and a half hours over two days before telling Erie County Judge John Garhart that they could not reach a verdict on a felony count of carrying a firearm without a license that Erie police had filed against Jermar Phillips, 32, in the Aug. 9 incident on Sassafras Street in the city.

Erie County First Assistant District Attorney Robert Sambroak, who prosecuted the case, said his office will try the case again.

Police had accused Phillips of possessing a revolver that officers found when they responded to a shots-fired incident, then stopped a car that Phillips was riding in as it drove away from the shooting scene. One man was shot in the leg during the incident, but no one has been charged in the shooting.

Phillips had also faced a felony count of receiving stolen property, because the revolver had been reported stolen in a 2009 burglary. But Garhart granted a motion by Phillips' lawyer, Gene Placidi, to drop the charge at the conclusion of testimony in the trial on Wednesday.